Why was it that one of only two places in the province that is legally allowed to sell a variety of beer so frequently has beer on its shelves so far removed from the date it was actually bottled?Read more…

The upcoming spring budget will allow large grocery stores to begin selling wine and beer. Torontonians thirsty for change were quick to rejoice, but is it really something worth getting excited about?

Toronto now lays claim to 10 fully operational microbreweries, and there are roughly half a dozen more in the planning stages. Maybe you’ve thought to yourself, “Hey, I could start a craft brewery!” I talked with a handful of Toronto’s craft brewers and turns our it’s not quite as easy as local beermakers might be making it look.

When Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery and Kensington Brewing Company both announced new beer releases last week, the news from both companies was somewhat surprising: Both would be releasing their new beers in The Beer Store.Read more…

The list of breweries participating in Toronto beer festivals this season might be considerably shorter than you’d expect. That’s because today, the AGCO has ruled that the products of contract brewers won’t be allowed at events that are licensed with a Special Occasion Permit (SOP).Read more…

We might not typically judge a candidate for public office based on his or her drink of choice, but considering how much we know about our current mayor’s drinking preferences—whether it be a few beers at a Leafs game or an early-morning bottle of brandy at his office—it seems only fair that we ask those who seek to unseat Rob Ford what beverages they turn to after a hard day.Read more…

Just short of one year ago, Steam Whistle announced we’d be able to buy their ubiquitous craft pilsner at Toronto Blue Jays’ games. Today, two weeks from their home opener, they’ve announced that the partnership is no more.Read more…

Coors Light, Budweiser and Molson Canadian aren’t particularly pricey brands of beer—unless you own a bar or restaurant in Ontario. For the province’s tens of thousands of liquor licensees, these premium beer brands come at huge markup.Read more…

The Beer Store and the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA) have, as of late, been engaged in a very public and increasingly nasty fight over the state of the province’s beer sales. But let’s be serious here: The Beer Store currently enjoys roughly an 80% market share of all beer sales in this province and they are unlikely to relinquish it easily.Read more…

With its dusty wall of labels to choose from, metal conveyor belts, and line-ups, it’s easy to think of the Beer Store as a sort of provincial institution — a no-nonsense, government-controlled, beer distribution centre. The truth is, of course, that The Beer Store is not a government institution at all.

The Davieses were big in the brewing business, but in terms of their reach and distribution, both the Don Brewery and the Dominion were still essentially “craft” breweries. It wasn’t until one man, EP Taylor — who some might call the anti-Christ of craft brewing — began to see the money-making potential in brewing that the industry in Canada really took off.

Bars on virtually every corner, throngs of people and cops on city streets, fights, and public drunkenness making Toronto an embarrassment to visiting tourists. No, I’m not describing the Entertainment District on a Saturday night. It’s actually a scene from the Junction — then known as West Toronto — circa 1904.Read more…

There is an ancient Celtic axiom that says "Good People Drink Good Beer."
Which is true, then as now. Just look around you in any public barroom and you will quickly see: Bad People Drink Bad Beer.
Think about it.